We just bought a 24' 1987 Cruisers 244 Holiday. We filled the water tank, but cannot get any water to the sink or toilet. We have no schematics for the plumbing. Is there a shut off valve we can't find, or can I get a set of schematics for this boat somewhere?
plumbing on a 1987 cruiser
- Thread starter loki
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Schematics are nice but not nearly as good as opening all hatches and sticking your head in with a good flashlight and identifying everything you see. Find all your thru hulls and figure out what each one is used for. Find all bilge pumps and sump pumps. Find your fresh water pump, check to see if it has an inline filter and make sure it isn't clogged.
As said above, most heads use sea water and not water from your water tank (but some do). You need to know what water source is used for the head.
Make sure your sea cocks are open.
As asked, when you turn on the faucet, do you hear your water pump running? If you don't, have you checked your 12v breakers to make sure you are getting power to the pump.
As said above, most heads use sea water and not water from your water tank (but some do). You need to know what water source is used for the head.
Make sure your sea cocks are open.
As asked, when you turn on the faucet, do you hear your water pump running? If you don't, have you checked your 12v breakers to make sure you are getting power to the pump.
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Water doesn't magically arrive at the sink or shower; it is pumped from the tank that you filled via on onboard pump, which pressurizes the water, just like a well pump does, out in the country. Is the breaker turned on for the water pump? You'll be able to hear the pump if it is running (as long as your engine isn't running at the same time.) When it first starts it should run for quite a while, while it fills up the water heater, brings the lines up to pressure, and then shuts off automatically. Could be as much as 10 minutes, the first time. Then after that, it should come on whenever you're running water, showering, or whatever. When you turn the water off, it will bring the lines back up to pressure, then shut off - usually in just a few seconds.
Most onboard toilets flush with raw water from outside the boat - lake, river, ocean, etc. The toilets have built-in pumps to bring in the outside water and send it off to the holding tank.
Most onboard toilets flush with raw water from outside the boat - lake, river, ocean, etc. The toilets have built-in pumps to bring in the outside water and send it off to the holding tank.
swabby9009
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Turn on the water pump......close ALL the faucets EXCEPT the one farthest away from the tank. If you have a transom shower that's a good place to start. If equipped with hot and cold water at the transom shower turn on only the hot water and wait......and wait......and wait.....and wait.....
It'll take a while to bleed the air out of the line but you want to do the one farthest away first and the reason I said the HOT side is to allow it to circulate through the hot water tank.
Letting the pump run with air in the lines and all the faucets closed is a waste of time because you can't compress air and that's all you'd be trying to do.
Once you get a water flow there turn off the hot and do the same with the cold....then move on to the faucets in the galley...head...etc. and do the same thing.
It'll take a while to bleed the air out of the line but you want to do the one farthest away first and the reason I said the HOT side is to allow it to circulate through the hot water tank.
Letting the pump run with air in the lines and all the faucets closed is a waste of time because you can't compress air and that's all you'd be trying to do.
Once you get a water flow there turn off the hot and do the same with the cold....then move on to the faucets in the galley...head...etc. and do the same thing.
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Glad you fixed one problem but you didn't tell us what was wrong. That's how we learn things.
So just was the problem with the head?
Digging into your bilge, what did you learn?
Did you find your fresh water pump? Even though you didn't fix the water problem, have you come to any conclusions as to the possible problem?
So just was the problem with the head?
Digging into your bilge, what did you learn?
Did you find your fresh water pump? Even though you didn't fix the water problem, have you come to any conclusions as to the possible problem?
First Problem: Head. Once we discovered that the water source was lake water, the problem was virtually ended. I should preface this by saying that this is our first large (to us) boat. The only other boat we had was a 15 foot. So we had lots to learn.
Now for the fresh water: we used the phone number supplied by another member and was informed where the pump was located. There were no shut offs in the line. No filters were found so far. We unhooked the supply line at the pump and blew back into the tank. When we reconnected the supply line and turned on hot water a lot of debris flushed out of the line, then the water came in a steady stream. We are going to put a filter into the line to keep it clear.
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So, can I only guess that the problem with the head was the seacock being closed?
Was the fresh water pump so well hidden you couldn't find it yourself?
I understand the learning curve for your first large boat. We all had to go thru that. That's why I stressed trying to find things on your own without the help of schmatics (or builder customer service). The only way to really get to know your boat is open up all bilge access hatches and figure out the purpose of everything you see.
On my Carver, the builder was very creative in hiding bilge access hatches. You'd be surprised what you can find behind all those openings. Even when you find these hidden hatches, you really have to look hard to find what the builder has hidden behind those hatches.
Was the fresh water pump so well hidden you couldn't find it yourself?
I understand the learning curve for your first large boat. We all had to go thru that. That's why I stressed trying to find things on your own without the help of schmatics (or builder customer service). The only way to really get to know your boat is open up all bilge access hatches and figure out the purpose of everything you see.
On my Carver, the builder was very creative in hiding bilge access hatches. You'd be surprised what you can find behind all those openings. Even when you find these hidden hatches, you really have to look hard to find what the builder has hidden behind those hatches.
You will want to unscrew all the faucets filters (small screens) and make sure they are clean. If you blew a lot of crap out of the water lines chances are the filters on the end of the spigots are also now restricting the flow. Is the crud in your water tank? If you have Aluminum water tank or tanks I would flush and clean them as well. I ended up replacing both my Aluminum tanks with heavy plastic (Poly) tanks and the water now tastes better and no more clogging at the faucets. Bill